Month: February 2021

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  Yuffie—a beloved hero who is in the original Final Fantasy VII but not its existing remake—returns to the remake's... remake. [credit: Square Enix ]

Sony's latest PlayStation-focused video reveal event, as part of its State Of Play series, was its shortest yet, lacking announcements on any first-party Sony games coming to either PlayStation 5 or the older PS4. Instead, the event was led by a third-party whopper: a remake of... last year's Final Fantasy VII Remake.

That definition is a stretch, since this new title may be better classified as a graphical remaster, but there's a lot going on, as visible in the above gallery. The new game, FFVII Remake Intergrade, will land exclusively on PlayStation 5 consoles on June 10, and in good news, existing owners on PS4 will get nearly all of its content as a free upgrade (so long as they either own the game digitally or have a disc-based PS5). That content includes a sweeping graphical overhaul with new lighting, texture, and particle systems and an optional 60fps mode, plus a new "classic" option for the game's active battling system. Picking "classic" will let players focus entirely on selecting commands from menus, instead of giving direct joystick control to a "lead" character like Cloud or Tifa.

For existing owners who may have already beaten the game, the incentive to double-dip comes in the form of a new "episode" of content. This will put players in control of original series character Yuffie, and the revealed footage includes her and a companion named Sonon spending time in existing game regions like the Sector 7 slums—and Yuffie using Sonon as a springboard to pull off cinematic, sweeping attacks. To access this new chapter, existing owners will have to pay for the extra DLC, though publisher Square Enix hasn't yet clarified how much that will cost.

Enlarge / A registered nurse practitioner holds up a sign and a flag asking for another patient to dose with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine as well as a more vaccine doses at a vaccination site in Seattle, Washington on January 24, 2021. (credit: Getty | Grant Hendsley)

In its efforts to help Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is quietly working on a new website that will let people see every location in their community offering COVID-19 vaccinations, how many shots each of those locations has for the current day, and provide links to set up vaccination appointments.

That's the ideal, at least; there's a lot of work to do to get there.

Right now, the site—vaccinefinder.org—only has the full lists of vaccine providers for four states—Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, and Tennessee. Those lists include providers at hospitals, clinics, public health centers, doctor's offices, drug stores, and grocery store pharmacies.

Enlarge (credit: Matthew Horwood / Getty Images)

In general, obesity is linked with a large range of health problems—for most people, at least. But for a substantial minority of those who are overweight, obesity is accompanied by indications of decent health, with no signs of impending diabetes or cardiovascular disease. These cases have probably received unwarranted attention; who doesn't want to convince themselves that they're an exception to an unfortunate rule, after all? But the phenomenon is real, and it's worth understanding.

To that end, a large international team of researchers has looked into whether some of these cases might be the product of genetic influences. And simply by using existing data, the team found 61 instances where a location in our genomes is associated with both elevated obesity and signs of good health, cardiovascular or otherwise.

Good and bad

The team's method of searching the genome is remarkably straightforward, and it relies on the fact that many research groups have already done so much work to look for factors associated with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular health. This work includes searching for areas of the genome associated with measures of obesity, like body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist-to-hip ratio. Insulin and glucose levels have also been studied genetically, as these numbers give some indication of how the body is responding to weight and food intake. Cardiovascular health measures, including things like cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and blood pressure, have also been explored.

Enlarge / AT&T's logo at its corporate headquarters on March 13, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. (credit: Getty Images | Ronald Martinez )

Nearly six years after buying DirecTV for $48.5 billion, AT&T today announced a deal to sell a minority stake in the business unit and spin it out into a new subsidiary.

AT&T said its deal with private equity firm TPG Capital values the TV business at $16.25 billion. A press release said that AT&T and TPG "will establish a new company named DirecTV that will own and operate AT&T's US video business unit consisting of the DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-verse video services."

AT&T will own 70 percent of the spun-off DirecTV company's common equity while TPG will own 30 percent. DirecTV in its new form "will be jointly governed by a board with two representatives from each of AT&T and TPG, as well as a fifth seat for the CEO, which at closing will be Bill Morrow, CEO of AT&T's US video unit," the announcement said.

Enlarge / Google, by night. (credit: 400tmax | Getty Images)

Google is reportedly promising it will change its research review procedures this year in its AI division, in an apparent bid to restore employee confidence in the wake of two high-profile firings of prominent women from the division.

Reuters obtained a recording from an internal meeting this month in which Google Research executives promised to better address "sensitive topics" and research critical of Google's own business operations.

By the end of the second quarter, the approvals process for research papers will be more smooth and consistent, division chief operating officer Maggie Johnson reportedly told employees in the meeting. Research teams will have access to a questionnaire that allows them to assess their projects for risk and navigate review, and Johnson predicted that a majority of papers would not require additional vetting by Google.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Hackers are mass-scanning the Internet in search of VMware servers with a newly disclosed code-execution vulnerability that has a severity rating of 9.8 out of a possible 10.

CVE-2021-21974, as the security flaw is tracked, is a remote code-execution vulnerability in VMware vCenter server, an application for Windows or Linux that administrators use to enable and manage virtualization of large networks. Within a day of VMware issuing a patch, proof-of-concept exploits appeared from at least six different sources. The severity of the vulnerability, combined with the availability of working exploits for both Windows and Linux machines, sent hackers scrambling to actively find vulnerable servers.

“We’ve detected mass scanning activity targeting vulnerable VMware vCenter servers (https://vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2021-0002.html),” researcher Troy Mursch of Bad Packets wrote.

Enlarge / Key art for the new Star Trek series Star Trek: Prodigy. (credit: ViacomCBS)

In an online event for investors, ViacomCBS revealed several new details about CBS All Access replacement Paramount+, including pricing as well as two new Star Trek series that will premiere on the network. Also, the company announced that a much-anticipated Showtime show will end up on Paramount+ instead.

Paramount+, which was announced several months ago, will launch on March 4 in the United States, Canada, and 18 Latin American countries. As with CBS All Access, both an ad-supported and ad-free plan will be offered. In the US, the ad-supported one will cost $4.99 per month, while the ad-free plan will cost $9.99.

That $4.99 per month is $1 cheaper than the ad-supported version of CBS All Access. However, this cheaper plan will not include local CBS stations. The service is also expected to launch in Nordic countries within a few weeks and in Australia sometime later this year.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a nifty deal on Anker's Soundcore Life Q30, as the wireless noise-canceling headphones are currently available for $68 at various retailers. That's $12 off the device's typical going rate online and only $4 higher than the lowest price we've tracked.

While we recently sang the praises of the $200 Puro Pro headphones, the Soundcore Life Q30 is a great choice for those who can't spend that much. We haven't formally reviewed the headphones on the site, but we plan to make them a budget pick in an upcoming guide to wireless noise-canceling headphones. For well under $100, they offer a comfortable design that's well-padded and light on the head (if heavy on plastic), tremendous battery life that can supply more than 40 hours per charge (depending on volume), USB-C charging, physical volume and playback controls, and convenient multidevice pairing.

In terms of sound quality, the Soundcore Life Q30 has a "V-shaped" signature, which means they accentuate the bass and treble ranges at the expense of some midrange detail. The bass is particularly emphasized, so many hip-hop and pop tracks will have some serious punch. The headphones are definitely not a device for audio purists who like their cans to be as true to a song's recording quality as possible, but if you prefer a more excited sound (and many do), the Soundcore Life Q30 provide that without sounding sloppy. What's more, Anker's companion app has a graphic EQ with several presets that let you customize the sound into something brighter or more flat.